Thoughts on Game 3 Rockets vs. Lakers summer league

What a game!!! What a great win for the rockets summer league!!! Alright lets get down to talking. The game was packed with laker fans, I mean jerseys every I look. And the place was pretty full. The rockets start the first quarter down 0-8 in the first 3 mins. Then get down 24-36 in the first, it could of been much worse though. The lakers were hot from the outside. In the 2nd the rockets were down at one point by 17 points, did not look good. Go to the half 42-55 lakers. in the third the rockets explode and tie it with 1:56 left. The place was loud and going crazy for the lakers to get off. From there the rockets hold on and win 111-100. awesome play from the rockets. The crowd was silenced by the rockets amazing comeback and recognizing the rockets as the best team in the NBA beating the champions(OK so the last part is not true, yet).

Now lets get to the good stuff. And beleive me there is a lot of good stuff to talk about from Eddie Griffin. He finished with 13 points and I counted at least 7 rebs and 5 blocks.

Eddie opened up his first shot like the other 2 games with a 20ft shot that missed. Then came a few more 20 ft shot misses but this time his shots look short instead of long. But in the first he had two great plays in 1 min of play. The laker power forward tried to go around eddie with this 180 spin and shot it and bam eddie blocked with a swat of his hand then on the next play that the lakers came down one of the laker players when in for a 5 ft shot and bam eddie came out of nowhere and blocked it hard on the glass(that got a lot of OOooos and whoas from crowd). Then in the 2nd quarter EG when up to shoot, leaned forward and got foul but bam he made the shot too, great little short shot. That was pretty much it from EG in the first half. But the 3rd EG had a nice pass where he drove in but got trapped so he wrapped the ball behind his back and handed it to Axel D. but AD missed(would of been a nice assist). About 3 plays latter a laker player beat eddie to a offensive rebound and look like he was about to get a easy basket but bam here comes eddie and EG just blocks it strong. He still needs some work on his outside shooting though, on one play(just 1) eddie took 3 20ft shoots that missed, first from the right that almost airballed, then when to the left and missed it then back to the right and missed it(I think he was just a little nervous on the last two shots though since he missed the first). So the rockets try a new approch in this game with eddie instead of having him spot up around the 3pt line eddie is playing the pick and roll but this time they get him the ball. So this time eddie sets a pick then runs in and what do you know eddies open again but this time they finally get him the ball and bam a strong two hand legs in the air dunk by EG! That was the best dunk I seen of him in these games. I think he was feeling good because right after that he runs down, a laker player takes a 15ft shot, and bam Eddie hit that thing so hard the ball would of gone out of bounce(without touching the inbound floor) if it where not for a jumping Sean Colson that grabs the ball while in the air and passes it to another rocket at half court, and EG after that block just runs down the court and the rocket player at half court finds EG down there and passes it to him, and bam EG slam dunk that ball again for the second time in less than 10 secs. It was a one hand. That was great to watch! Man I hope you guys reading this understand what I just said because it was so good to see. Whew that was exciting. A few plays later again the rockets do the pick and roll for eddie(which I think he's good at)and eddie runs in and they get him the ball but this time a defender gets to him so EG just does this nice turn around 5 footer and makes it. Now the 4th quarter. He rest a few mins at the begining of the 4th so he comes in around 8 mins left and I think he's getting really comfortable by now with all the earlier plays. So on the defensive end a laker(maybe intemidated by EG)decides to take a shot about 20ft on an open break with just EG in front of him, he fires it up and bam EG blocks it but it goes straight up about 10 feet at the 20ft line and the laker is still there to get it back but EG tips it twice and grabs it. a few plays later EG rebounds between 3 lakers and gets it. Then a few plays later he does it again with two straight great plays on offense. SC is wide open and goes up for a layup but misses and there's EG for the one hand tip layup against the backboard. the next play down EG tips the ball in again from going in from the free throw line(lakers forgot to box him out). He just knows where to be for rebounds and tips. On the defensive end on one play he was behind the basket out of bounce when the shot when up and EG just jumps in front of two lakers to box out to get the rebound. He is just so good at rebounding. That 4th quarter EG was intimidating, a laker player just airballed a shot(I think becuase he was afraid of being blocked). I'm so impressed with EG and I think in that second half he is getting really comfortable for the first time. At the buzzer of the end of the game the rocket coaches when to him first to give him high fives, They where telling him something and they had really big smiles. I can't wait for tomarrow. I think he's really fitting in now with the flow.

Now let's talk about Sean Colson. SC played great as a point today, he was constantly passing the ball inside, I mean he was great at finding people underneath. He shot great as usual(sometimes it seems like he doesn't miss) but he really was looking to pass underneath. He didn't force shots like on double teams or driving in on 3 players. He got 24 pts. He just took nice outside shots and drove in if open. He played good D too. Mike Pen. from the lakers was just hot from the outside and SC really did a good job of trying to shut it down. SC is just so quick out there.

Dan Langhi did not score as much as in the first two games. He did get 17pts. He shot an airball as the first shot of the game. He did make his second shot which was a 20fter. Made his 3rd shot which was a 15ft pull up jumper and again he is just smooth. that should be his nick name because I have not seen a nicer smooth shot in this summer league. Everytime the rockets play the people around me are always talking about EG, TM and JC but at the end they talk about DL and his smooth jumper. On one play DL faked a shot drove in then tried to pass it but it hit the player defending him in the stomach and DL caught the ball and just poped it and smooth again the ball just goes in without touching anything. He made a couple of 20ft shoots in the second half. But on one play he took it strong inside and with two hands jamed it down but it hit the back of the rim and bounced 10 or 15 feet in the air, it just when straight up hit and came down on the back of the rim and did not go in, nice move though. But the best move was in the fourth he was completely open on the left side of the court ran so fast and quick, jumped high really high and bam jammed it in with two hands and it when in this time(got alot of OOoooos and Ahhhhs from the crowd, it was a big time slam). He didn't look like he had a problem defending guards out there just getting around pics and screens.

This time Jason Collier started. He made his first shot but didn't look to sharp out there. Looked alittle slow like he was working really hard to get down the court. Alex D. was great from the 3pt line he hit 3. I think he had 11pts alltogether. his first shot was a 3 and nailed it. he got a nice rebound putin and had a nice offensive rebound from a free throw boxout. He hit two 3s in the 4th. Set some nice picks that almost knocked one player to the floor. Played very good.

Terence Morris was everywhere. He made a nice rebound layup putin, shot a 3pter, and hit a smooth 20fter. On one play he got open under neath and got the ball inside and jumped up and bam slam dunked it hard, I mean two hand legs bent up high in the air dunk. One really nice play TM was just running and had his left hand up and SC was at the half court line and passed it right on the dot of his hand and I think TM was suprised it was in his hand but he quickly just kept his hand and the ball in the air and navigated it in the basket, it was really quick, and even got fouled for one free throw. He is really quick underneath, he doesn't put it down and dribble, he just shots it fast (I really like that). Had another tip in too.

Omar S. played well also, he dribbles and moves with the left right herky jerky moves.
Real quick moves also. But some times it looks like he trys to score to much. He got in a little pushing fight with a laker. He made alot of nice shots.

Sidenotes. Rudy T., Jerry West, Kurt Rambus, Keyon Martin were in the crowds today. During the game when it was tied at 75-75 a laker screen got called for offensive and the crowd when crazy boos and wisleling everywhere, and then the ref that called the foul called a technical 10 secs later and the crowd got even louder if that as even possible.

Didn't take any pictures today, sorry guys but I will tomarrow. Sorry if it's long and written badly, hope no one goes blind If you guys have any questions I would love to try and answer them. can't wait till tomarrow and get another win!


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[This message has been edited by LA's #1 Rocket Fan (edited July 15, 2001).]

 

Thanks Kingrene, Old School, Joe Joe, Rockbox, Mateo, BahDakota, Gater for your replies. As for the regular season I don't have cable so I just go to espn.com realtime scores and clutchcity.net chat during games. As for laker and clipper games I just record them on TV to watch them again. Hopefully I'll make it to staples to see the rockets, but its expensive over there and I'm just a student. Thanks again for comenting.

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I just really love the sport of basketball wheither it's the NBA, WNBA, College, Highschool or International. I could watch any teams playing each other when I have the time. As for which team I like or don't like(not in terms of don't like watching, because I'll watch the teams I don't like anyway) my number one is the rockets, I don't really have a number two favorite team. As for the lakers and clippers they're usually the only teams I get to see but I don't like or hate them(except when rice kept knocking down shots agianst houston in the playoffs, I really hated them then). I don't like the Jazz and sonics though becuase I felt we were going to win back in 97 if it weren't for them injuring barkley in the first round of game 3 when we were up 2-0, and in 93 when the sonics turned the lights out of game 7 in the playoffs against houston when we were up. I have way too much free time. Thanks again everyone for replying.

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